I Scream for Ice Cream August 27, 2007
Posted by kimayars Uncategorized
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Okay, I honestly don’t know where to go with this one. Let me set the stage: It’s 9:30pm. The kids are in bed, and I’m doing my daily caloric intake. HOLY COW! I’m only at 686 calories for the day. To be honest, I’m suprised I’m still standing. Here’s what I ate:
- I was late, missed breakfast, and just grabbed a banana on my way out the door (105 calories)
- I had a 148 calorie lunch (arugula and watermelon with feta is surprisingly good).
- For a snack before dinner, I had a handful of raisins. (59 calories)
- For dinner I had lemon caper chicken (which was one small boneless, skinless thigh) and sweet potatoes with cinnamon, orange juice, and raisins. (374 calories).
Here’s my dilemma: I want an ice cream sandwich. The ice cream sandwich is 110 calories. It EASILY fits into my 1200 calorie goal. And even I know that I should probably eat something tonight.
I want the ice cream. But the ice cream has high fructose corn syrup, which I’ve been avoiding. But I want it. But I don’t. What do I do? Do I enjoy the fact that I’m at half the calories I was supposed to eat today? Or do I eat essentially another meal even though I’m not all that hungry to avoid putting my body in a starvation mode? Or do I cave and have that scrumptous ice cream bar.
To most people, this seems like a really easy question. (Eat the ice cream sandwich.) But in the grander scheme it’s not. Is this the “weak moment” that will push me over the edge? Will I not think so hard the next time I want the ice cream sandwich, but don’t have the calorie bank to support it. I want to eat like a “normal” person, but in the process of resetting my body in to eating what it needs, I’ve lost sight of what “normal” is.
Update: I decided to let my body do the talking. I waited until I was hungry, then I had one of my favorite snacks: melted cheese on a flour torilla. And yes, I also had the icecream sandwich. This brings my calorie total for the day to 1106, and I feel great about it!
Comments
I’m with you on the whole “normal” thing. I feel like I have no idea what normal eating is suppose to look like. For me this is especially true with portion size.
I’m always left thinking… Eating normal shouldn’t be this hard. How is it that we lose touch with our bodies when it comes to eating, and how do we get back in touch?
I agree with Phil… I have no idea what normal is. Especially when I consider that the human body was designed to live/thrive on a vast nearly empty landscape where food and water was hard to find. For the vast majority of our evolutionary history… I suspect a typical caloric balance sheet went something like this:
+150 calories (ate some grubs)
-1,000 calories (sat around all day)
+200 calories (ate some nuts)
-1,000 calories (sat around all day)
+30,000 calories (found a mammoth, ate for 4 hours straight)
-2,000 calories (walked back to cave and sat around the rest of the day)
The point is, I suspect that the average cave man, was a glutton every 2 weeks, and then starved between meals. No wonder in today’s world of readily accessible high calorie food, our bodies have a hard time adapting.
Brad’s killin’ me here! I’m surprised he doesn’t have his caveman licking salt flats for minerals. LOL!
I’m not sure what “normal” is, but being hungry at the end of the day after the eating you did (didn’t?) do, makes sense. I’m glad you let yourself have the ice cream. Corn syrup or not. If you’re anything like me, it would have become an obsession had you not let yourself have it!
What a great problem…! Normal, Kim? Hmm.
Reducing calories below your caloric needs is going to yield reduction in weight, no question. And, I have yet to find anyone who goes on a diet who doesn’t crave those things they can’t have. Oh, the dreams!
For me, I’ve found that balancing the macronutrients (protein, fat, carbs) each time I eat keeps the overall picture in balance. Too, cutting out foods that are high on the glycemic index keeps my energy levels balanced, and reduces the extreme highs & lows. What this largely means is that I don’t eat many things that are white (rice, white bread, potatos, for example). For those who follow these things, this is largely based on the Zone diet.
That said, regular old ice cream (not the fancy low-fat stuff) is actually a food that is ranked moderately on the glycemic index because the fats balance out against the carbs, and there is a bit of protein in there. Add some peanuts, and in a moderate amount, it’s an O.K. snack. Note I didn’t say GREAT snack, but I also didn’t say BAD snack. So, once in a while, not a bad thing.
In point of fact, I ate a small scoop of Chocolate Mousse Royale last night. Very tasty.
One thing that stands out in this day’s food is that you have several foods that are very high on the glycemic scale, i.e. banana, raisins, that you eat without also adding in other macro nutrients, which should mean that about an hour or so after you eat them, your energy level plummets. To avoid the crash, add in fat & protein to these. For example, peanut butter to the banana (yum!), and almonds to the raisins. BTW, GORP = Good Old Raisins & Peanuts.
Of course, ymmv, and I suspect that each of us have certain genetic bits turned on or off that others don’t which affect what foods we can eat. Me being of N. European descent w/a bit of American Indian thrown in, I can eat dairy products. My friends from India who have grown to middle age, usually not.
And what can we say about Brad? Pretty soon he’s going to telling us what the caloric output is for creating a fire with a bow saw in record time.
I am ashamed to admit this but I just heart about something that weight watchers does. Take two low calories graham crackers and put some cool-whip/whip-cream between them and place it in the freezer. Voila, you now have a low calorie ice cream sandwich- well sort of. lol.
That’s self control, eating the tortilla with cheese. Then afterwards, you can access whether or not you really want the ice cream sandwhich. Turns out “you can have your ice cream and eat it too”!